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Monday, January 23, 2012

DIY Eraser Rubber Stamps

They are meant for carving into stamps! Though it's just a normal eraser (and any rubber eraser would work), this particular eraser has a thin blue layer on top of the white layer as a carving aid.

I wanted to make some stamps for Cousin T, and I wanted to start out easy, so first let's try a monogram.

I just drew onto the blue side with a pencil, completely forgetting that all letters should be mirror-reversed! Oh well, let's continue.

First cut away all the easy stuff, like the corners. I cut at an angle so that there'd still be some stamp left to hold at the end!

Next, start whittling away at the blue layer, remembering to keep the Xacto knife blade at a angle away from the traced lines as much as possible.

I found it easier if I cut out small circles at a time, since circles are easy to cut out. Just press the knife in (at an angle) and swirl it around. Though you may have to take a few hand-crap breaks, eventually you'll finish!

Next stamp it several times on some paper to test the stamp. If there's crude or eraser edges showing up, go back and keep carving at your stamp until it's just how you want it.

The "&" sign is backwards, but not bad!

I got a little more ambitious for the next stamps, and this time I was smart enough to draw the design out on paper first (with pencil).

Cousin T and her fiance, M!

Rub the image onto the blue eraser until the picture transfers.

Then carve, carve, carve!

So fun!

They kind of have a wood-block vibe to them, yeah?

Since I practice-stamped with washable ink, I was able to clean them off a bit to give to Cousin T. She also got her own giant blue eraser to make custom stamps with too!

Anyway, definitely try this stamp-making method out if you need a quick, custom stamp. It's pretty easy, and all you need is a knife and some erasers!

15 comments:

OH MY GOODNESS. I LOVE THOSE!! Esp the little faces! So when I was home over Christmas... I went to Diaso.. stocked up... ok maybe not. I had to restrain myself. Then Tim was like... "well, I've never been to a dollar store on Christmas Eve before..." And THEN... I forgot my entire bag of stuff. At home. :(

I think I remember making a rough version of this in middle school, where I'd carve out a simple design in my eraser with a pencil and color the eraser with a pen to get the ink during class instead of listening to the teacher lecture! This is so cute and a really great gift!

I think I remember making a rough version of this in middle school, where I'd carve out a simple design in my eraser with a pencil and color the eraser with a pen to get the ink during class instead of listening to the teacher lecture! This is so cute and a really great gift!